


Keep a Candle Burning

by Medie



Category: Highlander: The Raven
Genre: F/M, Yuletide 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amanda says goodbye and Liam says hello.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep a Candle Burning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FireEye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/gifts).



> My thanks to my beta.

It's a call she's always known would come, but that doesn't make receiving it any easier. She doesn't know how long she stands there with the phone pressed to her ear, but when she comes out of it, the dial tone is loud and there are tears streaking her cheeks.

"Amanda?"

"John," she says, hanging up the phone and turning to face Lucy. "Rebecca's husband."

Sorrow fills Lucy's eyes and she sighs a quiet, "Oh _no_ ," that somehow sets Amanda to crying again. 

By the time they take to the couch with a bottle of wine and a box of tissues, Amanda telling tales of Rebecca and John's courtship, their eyes are rimmed red from crying and Amanda's voice is a miserable croak.

Still, when she falls asleep, she's smiling and, in the morning, there's a plane ticket waiting with her packed bags by the door.

"A ticket for one?" she asks as Lucy brings her coat. "Not coming with me?"

Lucy smiles. "Isn't it always?" She helps Amanda into her coat and presses a kiss to her cheek. "Take care and watch your head."

"It's an _abbey_ , Lucy darling," Amanda says, kissing her back. "What kind of trouble could I possibly get into?"

Lucy laughs. "With you? One shudders to imagine." 

Amanda looks at her, sees the years piling on by the second, and reaches out to pull her into a long, tight hug. "I'll be good," she promises and takes the ticket from Lucy's hand. "You take care."

*

She arrives at the abbey with Lucy's knowing eyes bright in her memory. The absence of John's laughter in the halls makes her heart hurt all the more and tears sting her eyes. She drops her bags and stops at the window, looking out at the brightness of the French morning. 

Laying her hands on the windowsill, she takes a moment to try and shut out the silence. 

"Some day, I need to come back here for something other than a funeral." 

She laughs with the words, though the sound comes out a little broken and she's years past holding in grief. John and Rebecca both deserve so much better than her silence. All of them do. She's wept for so many, but as agonizing as it is, she's never regretted any of it. 

Standing at the window, Amanda lets herself cry.

 

*

It's late before she goes to bed, but there's no chance to sleep in. There are arrangements to be made and solicitors to meet. "Apparently, I'm John's niece," she tells Lucy, with more gaiety than she feels on the phone. "The abbey is mine."

"Planning to spend a few centuries on holy ground?" Lucy asks, her voice warm despite the crackling of the international line. "Might be good for you."

Curled up in Rebecca's favorite chair, Amanda tries to picture that and ends up laughing. "No, I don't think so, but it'll be nice to spend some time here." She looks around the room and the memories that surround her. "I haven't thought of this place in a long time." 

"She'd be proud of you," Lucy says, after a moment. "All that you've done these past few years; how much you've accomplished."

"You think so?" Amanda can't help asking the question. She's wondered about it before, many times, but somehow hearing it makes all the difference. 

"Without a doubt," Lucy says. "Just like I am."

Amanda smiles into the phone. "Thank you."

"Anytime, honey," she replies. "Are you doing all right? Do you need anything?" 

"No," Amanda tucks a blanket around her legs. "I think I'm just going to make a cup of tea and go to bed." It's as close to sleeping in her childhood bed as any Immortal can get and she smiles despite the ache of missing Rebecca. 

"Sounds heavenly," Lucy sighs. "I think I'll do the same thing tonight." 

"You should, it's good for the soul." Just like being here always is. "Good night, Lucy."

"Good night, honey," Lucy hangs up. 

Amanda hits 'end' and sets her phone on the table, then gets up to make her tea. 

When it's ready, she goes to her bedroom, the same she shared with Rebecca all those centuries ago, and lights two candles. One for John, one for Rebecca, and uses both to light a third.

"Sleep sweet," she tells them both and takes her tea to bed. 

*

She wakes to the feeling of another Immortal's presence crawling through her mind. The abbey might be holy ground, but she still grabs her sword along with her robe and heads to the front door.

When she looks out, she can't help but laugh. " _Liam_?"

Standing there, hat quite literally in hand, he grins at her. "Good morning, Amanda," he says. "Don't suppose you might have a spare room for a wayward soul?"

She puts her sword away and rushes out to hug him. He's warm despite the cool morning air and she hugs into him hard. "God, it's good to see you again."

"It's good to be seen," he says into her hair. 

Finally stepping back, she looks at him. "I heard you've left the church. Fallen astray, have we, Father?" 

"I've been on holy ground in some form or another for nearly two hundred and forty years, Amanda. God and I agreed it was time I served Him in other ways." Liam smiles. "It was time. Overdue, really. After Sean, I knew I had to figure out how to do this my way. I've spent too long hiding so," he shrugs, "I've been on the move. It's been good to travel a while." 

"And how did you find your way here?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

He hesitates and she can see him looking for the answer. It makes her laugh. "Lucy called you, didn't she?"

"She did," Liam agrees, "but a man can get tired of wandering and I wanted to check on you. I heard about Rebecca's husband. I'm sorry, he was a good man."

"He was," Amanda agrees. She picks up his bag and carries it into the abbey. "I didn't visit him nearly as much as I should have," she confesses, somber. "We talked from time to time, but John hasn't been up to travelling these past few years and I just never could make it back here."

"Afraid?"

"A little," she nods. "Rebecca's presence is everywhere. I didn't know if I could face her." 

Liam brushes shoulders with her, catching her gaze with a small smile. "And now that you've had some time here? Do you think that fear was justified?"

Amanda thinks about it, about the conversation with Lucy, then smiles. "No. She was proud of me and I think she always was." 

She puts him in the bedroom opposite hers and sits on the bed while he unpacks his small satchel. "You travel lighter than I do."

A grin twitches at Liam's lips. "I've seen the way you travel these past few centuries, Amanda. Entire caravans travel lighter than you do." 

Stretching out, she pouts at him. "Can I help if I've developed a taste for the finer things in life? Haven't I taught you anything?" 

He looks sideways at her. "A great many things and more than a few I'm still doing penance for." Putting away the satchel, he sits on the end of the bed with her. "Which, for the record, is not something I mind." 

"I know," she says, nudging him with her foot. "How long can you stay?" 

"As long as you'll have me," he smiles. "I seem to be a man of leisure at present and, as such, somewhat homeless."

Absurdly, she finds herself thinking of Methos and can't help saying, "As a friend is fond of saying, _mi casa es su casa_ , darling."

*

She wakes Liam just before dawn. He stares out at her from beneath the blankets with wild curls and muzzy eyes. " _Amanda_?" 

Putting the breakfast tray on the bedside table, she hops up onto the bed with him. "Well, obviously, who else would be waking you up at this hour?"

"To be honest?" He sits up and takes the cup of coffee she's holding out to him. "Anyone but you."

Her laughter cuts through the quiet. "Oh, I know, believe me, but I think it's this place. Rebecca was never one for lie-ins. She had me up and practising every single chance she could. We spent hundreds of mornings outside with our swords."

Liam takes a long swallow of coffee. "I suppose that's what you have in mind for me this morning?"

"You need to practice, Liam," she says, "You haven't lived off holy ground in over a century." He's certainly spent time off the church grounds. A working parish doesn't exactly lend itself to the monastic life. 

He sighs. "I'm aware of that. I suppose there's little point in reminding you I've hardly been shut away that entire time?"

"None whatsoever," she affirms, getting up. "Eat your breakfast. It's no fun dying on an empty stomach."

"Even less fun reviving on a full one," Liam grumbles, but does as he's told.

Amanda laughs and ruffles his hair. "But so much better than not reviving at all."

Wisely, Liam doesn't argue that one.

*

They spend their morning out behind the abbey, Liam on his back as much as his feet, and every morning thereafter until he doesn't. Amanda knows that she should send him to Duncan or Matthew, maybe one of the others, but she just can't let him go. She can't trust Liam's safety to anyone else. He isn't her responsibility, he's not her student and never was, but she can't imagine anyone else here in her place.

She doesn't want to share these mornings with anyone and she doesn't think that Liam does either.

"You know," she says, sitting by him as he revives, "I think you might actually survive this."

With a pained gasp, he sits up. "Really? I was just thinking the opposite."

Amanda laughs, bumping shoulders with him. He leans into her and she smiles wider, saying, "Give yourself some credit, Liam. You've come a long way in the past few weeks."

"Still a ways to go, though," he sighs. "Practising with you is one thing, but a genuine fight? It'll be years before I'm ready for that one. I don't think that's part of my oath I'm willing to give up."

She holds back a sigh of her own. "I'm not asking you to be the next Duncan MacLeod, Liam," she says, and turns to face him. His face is streaked with sweat, dirt, and his own blood. She suspects he has no idea how beautiful he looks like this. "I'm asking you to survive." It's cheating in the worst way to bring up absent friends, but it's far from the first time she's played dirty to protect a friend. "We've already lost Rebecca and Darius. We can't afford to lose you too."

"I've spent centuries trusting my faith to protect me," Liam reminds her. "That's hard to abandon."

"You're not abandoning it, darling," Amanda says, trying to sound carefree as she adds, "You're just meeting God halfway." She doesn't quite make it, though, and her voice quavers as she speaks. 

Liam presses their foreheads together. "Meeting God halfway? I think I might be able to manage that."

She just needs to know that he'll try. It's a small thing, that choice, but Liam's the one who talks about faith like a mustard seed. 

His promise might be tiny, but so was hers twelve centuries ago. 

It's a start and that's all she can ask for.

*

"Why don't you stay here?" she asks, when it's time to go. Lucy's been making noises and she needs to check in on Michelle and yet she can't make herself get in the car. Liam's standing by his own rental, looking at her in confusion and she shrugs. "Well, someone should. I can pay a staff, but—" 

But.

She wants someone here who _cares_. Someone who remembers Rebecca and how she lived and died. Someone who loved her as much as Amanda herself. 

"Live here? Permanently?" Liam puts down his bag. "Are you sure?"

"Someone should and I think she'd like it to be you." Amanda bites her lip. "I think they both would."

"And you?" Liam takes a step closer. "What about you?"

She smiles and tucks her hand into his, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. "Keep a candle lit for me. I might need it to find my way home."

Liam's smile is brilliant and his kiss warm. "For you, Amanda, I'd light a thousand."


End file.
